Enlil

I ran, for how long?

I don't know.

Nor will I ever will.

The sound of hooves sinking through sand,

The glaring sun high up in the sky, the sandy dunes...

Everything made no sense.

How was it supposed to make sense?

I'm in a dream after all.

The suffocating darkness, the goaty laughter,

The muddy village path...

Everything has disappeared.

How?

I don't know.

It just happened in the blink of an eye, literally.

I was running through darkness a moment ago and here I am now...

Running through an unforgiving desert.

Thirst gripped my throat, my legs begged for rest, my eyes drooped due to exhaustion.

But I didn't stop.

I ignored my body.

I ignored its warnings.

And kept on running.

After all, this a dream.

Or a vision.

Whatever it is.

It isn't reality.

I'm grateful for that.

I glanced behind, towards my shadow.

Not the dark humanoid one.

But the grotesque deer.

He was still following me, his hatred still plastered across his face as he stained the grainy sand with his blood.

The thorns tightened around his body once more.

Bulging flesh stuck through the gaps provided by those chains, not without harm though.

However.

Despite intense bleeding he was still alive.

His regeneration wouldn't let him die.

Just like me.

I wonder, if the thorns tightened any further would he pop like a watermelon?

Blood would splatter everywhere and his organs would be sent flying.

The blood would be absorbed by the sand, his flesh and organs would be eaten by the vultures.

And at the end, he would disappear.

That's how 'life' was supposed to be.

The 'life' dictated by nature.

But here it isn't the case.

External interference stepped in..

Divinity stepped in.

His regeneration would bring him back.

Nature dictates how death was supposed to be for us mortals and animals alike.

But divinity breaks off these chains.

Divinity made us something more than mere 'lives'.

Meaningful lives?

No.

But it certainly made us something more.

It gave us what?

I don't know how to describe it..

It broke off our fate dictated by nature, I guess.

However.

The chains it broke off released us.

Released us into a cage.

A cage of divinity and nature.

A fate of being toyed around by both.

A fate we could only resign to.

A meaningless existence.

I sighed.

The sand was hot, really hot, but not as hot as the torch I was holding.

It shimmered under the sun, I still held onto it even though it's not useful anymore.

What if I went back to that darkness again?

Just like how I entered this desert?

Maybe.

The desert heat was unbearable.

The sand was burning my soles.

It was painful.

But a bearable pain.

Unbearable heat and bearable pain huh?

Strangely enough, I haven't started sweating yet.

I don't know why though.

My eyes were squinted due to the harsh sun, my long hair had long been disappeared, my height has shortened and my skin..

It was tanned and rough, similar to my original one.

I clutched my smooth straight hair, it was light brown.

I have changed.

Changes that I couldn't notice inside the darkness.

But now?

I've noticed it all.

A change I'm familiar with.

The horned god's and Adam's were both experienced by me in their perspective.

The only difference is that, now I can control myself.

I have free will.

I shortened my pace as did the shadow.

It was mimicking my movements.

My decisions.

Everything it could mimic, it will.

My steps sunk deep into the sand, the heat absorbed by them released onto my foot.

I sighed.

I stepped onto the sand once more with my other leg.

And pushed forw-

And fell.

The sand collapsed.

It collapsed.

It was hollow underneath.

I fell, my eyes searching for anything.

Anything that can help.

It happened way too fast.

I glanced all around, nothing.

I couldn't find anything.

It was pure darkness.

********

Like I said, pure darkness.

Blood oozed from my injuries as I laid on the ground in silence.

I stared at the ceiling, to where I came from,

But nothing could be seen except darkness

I laid on a wet mushy surface, it was my own flesh and blood.

My bones, I don't know how many of them remains unharmed.

My skull has cracked, crushed even, my eyes..

My eyes were there but not my vision.

I could feel the crushed part of my skull cave in, it was painful.

I haven't started regenerating.

Yet.

Or will I?

Who knows.

The pain felt vague and vivid at the same time.

It didn't even seem like pain at all.

I'm thankful for that.

Without regeneration I wouldn't want to be laying here in this condition while feeling every single injuries, every single broken bones and every single pain caused by them.

I have lost control over my body, the broken bones kept throbbing like toothache.

Albeit at a higher level.

That's the best description I could come up with.

I sighed or atleast tried to.

In this supposed to be silent darkness, a whimpering noise stood out.

It wasn't from me.

It was from 'Cassian'.

The deer.

The sound of iron clashing against eachother echoed, the whimpering increased as it turned into gasps and cries.

The laughter disappeared.

Its laughter had long been estinguished.

It was in pain.

It was in need of aid.

We both were in pain.

I however felt more detached towards it.

After all this isn't real.

This isn't my reality.

The deer however might feel this is reality.

It's where it came from after all.

This is its reality.

An imitation's reality.

The groans and cries of pain increased.

It sounded inhumane.

A mix of deer cries alongside human wails.

It grated against my ears, trying to etch it deep into my eardrums.

I hate it.

I despise it.

It was disturbing me.

My peaceful moment.

Just why?

What is your problem with me?

You're going to die anyways, so let me rest.

I despised it.

And more importantly.

I struggled, my left arm wasn't completely unusable.

I rolled, gritting at the pain as I rolled onto my stomach.

Why are you crying?

I reached my left arm out and crawled towards the whimpers.

It was hell.

My battered body scraped against the rough ground as I left a bloody trail.

My already broken bones screamed at me, throbbing, nausea and dizziness gripped me in their claws.

A dull ache.

That's the best way I could describe my broken bones.

I have lost complete strength in them and some areas have started to become numb.

Death was getting closer.

And here I was crawling away from it.

Towards the deer.

Towards myself.

Towards what kept me alive

Towards my regeneration.

I crawled and crawled, slow and steady crawls.

For how long? I don't know.

I don't care.

As long as I reached it.

I don't mind.

I felt a wet sensation on my left arm, my heart raced, it was blood.

Not mine.

The cries of pain were too closed to my ears,

Its head just above mine.

I raised my left arm, towards it, towards the chains.

Both of them despite the other being completely broken.

And I pulled, the chain felt feeble under my arms.

Too feeble.

It started to bend under pressure, the wails stopped.

Its focus changed towards my arms.

Is he being rescued?

Finally free from this torment?

From this curse?

These must be the thoughts flooding his mind at this moment.

He was finally being free.

Isn't he?

Or.

Is he?

I stopped bending it and fell towards the ground with a squishy sound.

I fell onto its blood.

Disgusting deer cries returned as its head bit onto my hair and tried to pick me up.

It hurts to be honest.

It raised me up, towards the chains.

It wanted freedom.

No.

I wouldn't give it freedom.

I want it to continue its suffering.

Its torment.

My suffering.

My torment.

Our suffering.

Our torment.

As we always did.

These thorns are the curse that's keeping us alive.

Without it, we're dead.

It didn't seem bad to be honest.

Death was better that these unnecessary sufferings I went through.

Matter of fact, I wouldn't mind dying here and now.

Despite my fear of death.

I wouldn't mind it.

If not for my ambitions.

So.

So, for my dreams you have to suffer.

We have to suffer.

Continue to suffer.

I dropped my arms as blood dripped from them onto the ground.

I could feel the hair it was biting onto tearing away from my scalp.

However before that could happen, it dropped me.

Towards the ground.

Did it finally understand me?

Was it agreeing?

Compromiing?

Ofcourse no.

Who would?

A hoof planted itself on the back of my skull as I lost consciousness.

I died.